Preview: 2013 Lexus GS 350

Originally published: February 29, 2012

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A long time ago, at a car company far, far away, there once was a car. It was a pretty car, lovingly shaped by Italian legend Italdesign Giugiaro and crafted by dedicated Japanese worker bees eager to share their relentless pursuit of perfection. It was also a sporty car, dedicated to peeling rubber and making vroom sounds on command. It was a happy time.

Then darkness descended. Somnolence and caution ruled the land. The once-bustling factory was now ruled by faceless bureaucrats, penning boring cars and designing tedious technology. The once-proud worker bees were sad.

Then, along came an economic crisis — a really big economic crisis that had all the other car companies in a tizzy. But, while everyone else was in turmoil, the little luxury automaker that once could shucked all its years of monotony and, led by a former race car driver dressed up as a CEO, threw off the shackles of tedium and, if the fairy tale that is public relations is to be believed, lived happily ever after building exciting cars. Thus was the 2013 Lexus GS born

It really has been a tough road for the GS. In 1993, it was heralded as the first truly sporting Japanese sedan. Italian design and Japanese engineering sounded like an ideal mix and, for a while, the GS was the toast of the mid-sized luxury sedan market.

Then, it just got plain old boring, Lexus seemingly disinterested in pursuing the concept of a luxury sporting sedan and customers in turn ignoring the bland result. Indeed, for the better part of a decade, the Lexus GS has been one of Canada’s most forgotten cars.

I suspect that’s about to end.

The 2013 GS is essentially all new. Even more important than the fact that most of its parts have been replaced is that its tired old please-don’t-notice-me persona has been jettisoned. Gone, for instance, is the bland styling, replaced with what surely can be forgiven — considering Lexus’s little styling gnomes have only just recently been granted their artistic freedom — a grille that’s a little over the top. Nevertheless, a little too aggressive is a whole bunch better than really boring. And, if all those slashes and scoops in the front fascia do nothing else, they at least signal there’s a new car sporting the GS badge.

I tested the full-zoot GS 350 — labelled the F Sport — packed with all manner of sporting technologies that BMW M brags about so insufferably. Besides the stiffer suspension and uprated dampers, for instance, there’s an adjustable suspension, complete with its own rotary control button and bright digital readout on the dashboard’s 310-millimetre LCD screen. Not only does this computerized system vary damping between Normal and Sport+ modes, but, even within those two base settings, the electronics monitor how stiff or soft the shocks have to be.

The result is an all-independent — double wishbones in front and a multi-link rear — suspension system that’s more than just tokenly firm. Fully zoomed out in its Sport+ mode, the GS exhibits precious little roll and a spectacular level of grip, even on the dusty, salty roads of an Ontario winter. Even the steering is calibrated AMG firm rather than Asian flighty. Indeed, if anything, I’d recommend to Lexus that the steering effort could be a little lighter at parking lot speeds — but only if it didn’t affect the excellent feedback it generates at higher speeds. The rear-wheel-drive version of the F gets a variable-ratio steering system, which should alleviate the problem. Why the AWD version doesn’t is quite the mystery.

Nor is the ride dramatically sacrificed for this new-found turn of speed. Oh, sure, current Lexus loyalists will almost certainly be surprised by the new GS’s firmness, but, really, it’s nothing that hasn’t been offered in a BMW M suspension package before. Considering that Lexus currently sells less than 500 GSs a year, it’s not risking much with the dramatic about-face.

Lexus’s evergreen 3.5-litre V6 has also been upgraded for 2013, though to a far lesser degree. Horsepower is up to 306, a minuscule jump of two ponies. Mid-range torque has also been fattened up, but this is still a motor that likes to rev.

It also likes to make noises doing so. Lexus has, believe it or not, added a sound generator to the intake plumbing and, if you put your foot into it, there’s an entire symphony of V6 engine noises to be had. As much as the new-found boldness is lauded, however, it is worth noting that no V6 — even this one massaged by the masters of refinement — can match the sweetness of an in-line six. In this one regard, BMW’s 535i still holds the advantage.

It’s one that is extended somewhat by Lexus’s decision to soldier on with a six-speed automatic transmission. Eight is now de rigueur when it comes to self-shifting cogs and upstart Hyundai is rumoured to be working on a 10-speed slushbox. The Lexus gearbox is a slick-shifting affair and there is a paddle-shifting manumatic mode, but if you’re looking for the one thing that Lexus left out, it was an upgraded transmission.

The F Sport is, however, available with all-wheel drive, the tester transmitting 30% of its torque to the front wheels under normal circumstances and 70% to the rear: 50/50 distribution is available if everything goes awry. It’s worth noting that the F Sport is available in AWD and rear-drive guises. The slightly sportier rear-driver gets wider rear tires and one of those rear-wheel steering mechanisms that keeps going in and out of vogue. And, lastly, rear-wheel-drive F Sport models get a set of two-piece full-floating front disc brakes, a rarity even among exotic sports cars. Braking is, needless to say, exemplary. Again, why the AWD version of the F Sport doesn’t benefit is a mystery.

If the exterior’s styling is trying just a tad too hard, the cabin’s decor speaks of a designer at the top of his game, with equal measures of audacity and elegance mixed in. This is, in a simple comparison, the first interior to challenge Audi for the leadership in savoir faire.

Imbued, as so many luxury cars are now, with an onboard computer that seemingly controls everything, the GS is a brilliant mesh of uncluttered Spartan beauty and sensible functionality. Buttonry, thanks to that computer, is minimized — but only where sensible. Radio stations are sought/scanned via that computer thingie, but they can also be changed manually via a knob (which, by the way, is machined, not cast, from aluminum, just like the volume control switch).

The computer thingamabob, meanwhile, is mostly simple to use, aided in large part by a mouse that really is a mouse and not just a twirly thing that can just go around in circles. With the GS’s controller, you can move the scroll arrow in any direction just like on the screen in your den. When it approaches an icon, it hones in and, with a simple tap, the submenus are yours to peruse.

Said perusing is made easier because Lexus offers an optional LCD screen that is a humongous 310 millimetres wide. That’s 12.3 inches, folks, dwarfing anything I’ve seen in a dashboard — at least in a dashboard not modified by Big Pimpin’ TV. That means you can divide the screen between the navigation system and the radio and still read both. Consider this a must-have upgrade. The only negative to Lexus’s take on the onboard computer is that, unlike the Audi system, which has a back button right beside the controller, the Lexus’s is on-screen and not nearly as easy to use.

There’s plenty more to admire about the decor, however. My tester had a special-order Red Rock leather, which I think adds both pizzazz and class (says he from his Las Vegas-like heart-shaped bed). The 18-way adjustable front seats are heated and ventilated and the steering wheel can be likewise climate-controlled. There’s even a nice, little bejewelled clock in the centre dash whose little arms, Lexus Canada guarantees, are actually more milled aluminum than cheap plastic.

It all adds up to a GS as enticing as the original. It’s fast, it’s sporty and, perhaps most of all, it has a personality. The relatively minor disappointment that it may not have the latest in transmission technology should be somewhat mitigated by Lexus Canada’s decision to hold the base price line down to $51,900 — some $2,700 less than last year’s base model — and even the full-boat F Sport with all-wheel drive rings in for less than $60,000.